L2L Day 54 Carlisle to Gretna - 14 miles

Herbie had come over by train from Hexham to join us for the day and we met him at the station. It was great to see Herbie again.


The walk from Carlisle to Gretna had never been well planned and looking in detail it would have inevitably involved walking close to the M6 for a distance which was NOT what we wanted to do.

So, we decided on a much more pleasant route - the last/first section of the Hadrian's Wall trail.

First we had to ensure we had nourishment for the day and as we'd breakfasted early, Tony and I were already hungry again. The glorious smell of pies from the pie stall on the station was enough.


Tony was in the mood for negotiating an international franchise and by the time we'd purchased one of each flavour we could have easily been on the cusp of a deal. Helen certainly seemed keen and even gave us freebies to take away.

After a quick coffee in the square we headed off by taxi to Bowness on Solway.

The taxi driver was an interesting guy. Having served in the army and then having worked in Children's Services for the Local Authority he'd just recently started driving taxis. As a consequence he seemed to have a fair knowledge of the drug culture in the area.

We talked about the risk to young people, the dangerous temptations for young kids to get involved in County lines,  decriminalisation and approaches used in other countries. A flying start to a day's walk!



He dropped us at the start of Hadrian's Wall and no sooner had we started walking that Tony and Herbie tucked in to talking about Cyclotrons and short half-life Isotopes!!!.


The conversation and discussions were non stop throughout the day - I didn't dare fall behind for the risk of missing out on any of the jewels.



Interspersed with stopping and enjoying the view we talked about Chris Packham's People's Emergency Briefing, a timescale for decarbonisation , nuclear energy, nuclear waste, modular power stations and the health risks of travelling to the Moon, let alone Mars.




Garden Tiger caterpillar


Port Carlisle

We couldn't resist the 'Temptation of the Pies" any longer so stopped near Boustead Hill


before calling in for a beer at The Greyhound at Burgh by Sands. As we left I noticed outside there was statue to Edward I who was killed in the marshes nearby before he could do any more damage! 
It wasn't just the Welsh at the receiving end of his ambitions!



12th Century, St Michael's Church, Burgh by Sands.


Then onward to join the river again at Grisedale before re-entering the city via the Carrs' water biscuits and McVities Jaffa Cakes factory.



A great day's walking in great company
Herbie caught the evening train back to Hexham and Tony and I found our way by taxi to our accommodation in Gretna.

Comments

  1. SallyB on Tour18 May 2026 at 12:47

    As you reached Carlisle, you had walked 500 miles, David! Congratulations! Now you have 500 more through Scotland!!! 😉

    ReplyDelete

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